Some people wanted to forget it had happened and went back to their partners, others were keen to move on with their lives away from the attacker. A few would take things as far as they could legally but, even with protection of witness programmes and being able to give evidence behind a screen in court, those were still the minority. Jessica was surprised no one had cross-referenced the missing persons report with the fact Lewis’s girlfriend had recent charges for domestic violence but things like that did sometimes slip through the net.

Jessica again turned the computer off and left the room to tell Reynolds what had happened. At the absolute least she thought they could bring January in for questioning and take a mouth swab from Mrs Barnes that would be tested to see if the hand belonged to her son.

The inspector wasn’t in his office so Jessica walked back through to reception where the desk sergeant pointed her towards Cole’s office. She made her way upstairs and instantly saw both the DI and DCI in conversation through the glass windows of the chief inspector’s room. As Cole noticed her, he waved her in. Jessica sat next to Reynolds across the desk from their boss. She started to tell him what had happened but didn’t get the chance as he spoke first.

‘I was about to come get you. Have you seen the news?’

‘The woman in black stills?’

Cole sounded concerned. ‘Not that. It’s George Johnson.’

‘The MP George Johnson? What about him?’

‘Yes, the Member of Parliament – his wife has gone missing. It’s the top story on the breaking news channels.’

‘Why didn’t we hear about this before?’

Reynolds answered. ‘He’s friends with the superintendent and went straight to him. It’s only just filtered down to us but he spoke to the cameras before anyone took a proper statement. The news crews are outside his house now and have started phoning here but we don’t have anything to tell them because we didn’t know ourselves until twenty minutes ago. We don’t even know how long she’s been gone or if they were separated or anything.’

‘Where does he live?’ Jessica knew he was the MP for the Gorton constituency which covered the Longsight station where they were based but that didn’t mean he lived in the area. Even if he was their representative, it wouldn’t be their case if he resided elsewhere.

Her hopes were instantly dashed as Cole spoke. ‘You know those giant houses on the edge of Platt Fields Park set back from the main road?’

‘Bollocks, so it’s ours then?’ Jessica replied.

‘I wouldn’t have put it quite like that but yes.’

In the years they had worked together, Jessica had never heard the DCI swear and rarely known him to raise his voice or shout. The incident in the briefing that morning was one of a single-digit number of times he had even looked like he might lose his temper when she had been around.

With the news about George Johnson’s missing wife, Jessica had almost forgotten why she had come upstairs in the first place. It came to her just as the chief inspector was about to start speaking. ‘Sorry, I remembered why I was here. A woman walked into reception, claiming she knows who our woman in black is. She says her son went missing a month ago and that his girlfriend has an identical cloak.’

Jessica took the photo out of her jacket pocket and slid it across the desk. Cole picked it up and looked at it then turned it around for Reynolds to see. ‘Do you think she’s genuine?’

‘I have no idea but the son’s girlfriend has a record for DV. It’s probably worth bringing her in to speak to and taking a sample from the mother to see if the hand really does belong to her son.’

Cole leant back, exhaling loudly. ‘You’re probably right but Superintendent Aylesbury is obviously very keen on us at least trying to find Johnson’s wife.’ He paused, thinking through his options.

Detective Superintendent William Aylesbury had been the DCI at the station until a year and a half ago. Jessica hadn’t always got on with him but had just begun to see how good he was at his job when he had been promoted to the higher position. It meant he was no longer based at their station, instead overseeing the whole district.

The chief inspector leant forward in his chair. ‘Okay. Jason, can you go and deal with Mr Johnson? Take Louise with you and it will at least look like we’ve got two senior people working on things. Jessica, pick a constable or two and do what you have to. Take a sample from the woman downstairs and get it off to the labs before you do anything. Regardless of whatever’s in the girlfriend’s past, it’s pretty much irrelevant if the hand doesn’t belong to the woman’s son. After you’ve got that, go and bring the girl in. It can’t do any harm to talk to her, especially as we’ve got a missing person anyway.’

Jessica and Reynolds nodded in agreement before leaving. ‘I’m not sure who’s got the shortest straw here,’ the inspector said as they walked down the stairs together.

‘Definitely you,’ Jessica replied. ‘While all the TV cameras are focused on what you’re up to I can just go about my business.’

They separated at the bottom and Jessica went to sort out the saliva sample from Mrs Barnes. After the woman’s swab had been passed on to the labs it was going to take until the morning at least before they knew whether the hand belonged to her son. Jessica told the woman one of the other officers would take a statement because they were going to pick up her son’s girlfriend. Usually they would have spoken to the mother properly beforehand but if January did turn out to be involved in some way, the news coverage could have spooked her and the last thing anyone wanted was for her to disappear. Jessica already had the basic facts as well as January’s criminal record, which at least gave them a reason to question her.

Mrs Barnes seemed delighted they were going to pick up her son’s girlfriend and Jessica had to make clear they weren’t arresting January, merely bringing her in so they could ask her questions about Lewis’s disappearance. She checked the address they had was still valid and then walked through to the main floor. The person she was looking for was at a desk by himself so she walked around out of his eye line, creeping behind before cuffing him across the rear of his head with the back of her hand.

‘Oi!’ he yelled.

‘All right, Dave. Fancy a road trip?’

Detective Constable David Rowlands spun in his chair, holding the back of his head. He had turned thirty just over six months ago and was a little delicate over it – especially as the string of girlfriends he’d had over the past few years had started to slow down. He liked to maintain an air of being young, free and single but Jessica wasn’t sure the last two were by choice any longer. She was an only child and considered Rowlands her best friend in the force, even if he was more of an annoying brother-type than any thing else. They had been good mates before but, if anything, had become even more so since the death of their colleague and friend Carrie Jones the previous year. Both of them had been close to her and, in some ways, hadn’t got over her death. Their way of coping was by constantly winding each other up. Regardless of that, Rowlands was one of the few colleagues Jessica was happy to spend time with away from the station.

‘What did you do that for?’ Rowlands said. At first he’d had an angry scowl on his face but, once he saw who it was that had hit him, it turned into an aggrieved grin.

‘I was just flattening down a sticky-out bit of hair for you.’

‘Is this because I signed you up for careers day duty?’

‘You did what?’

Rowlands seemed surprised, then his smile widened. ‘Oh, you hadn’t noticed?’

‘Did you really sign me up?’

‘Erm, maybe. You know the DCI would have sent you anyway. This way you come off looking positive about things. You should thank me.’